The General Assembly’s Judiciary Committeeinvited the Criminal Justice Policy and Planning Division (CJPPD) within the Office of Policy and Management to make a report and presentation pursuant to Section 4-68p.

The report and presentation are being given on Friday, February 10, 2012 from 10:00 am until noon at the Legislative Office Building, 300 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, Connecticut and televised on CT-N. Members of the Appropriations Committee will be invited as well.

{ } Sec. 4-68p. Report and presentation. Not later than February fifteenth of each year, the Criminal Justice Policy and Planning Division within the Office of Policy and Management shall submit a report, in accordance with section 11-4a, and make a presentation to the joint standing committees of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to criminal justice and appropriations and the budgets of state agencies concerning its activities and recommendations under section 4-68m and specifying the actions necessary to promote an effective and cohesive criminal justice system. The report shall estimate the amount of savings inuring to the benefit of the state on account of the actual prison population being less than projected prior to the adoption of prison overcrowding reduction policies and make recommendations as to the manner in which a portion of such cost savings may be reinvested in community-based services and programs and community supervision by probation and parole officers in order to maintain that reduction in projected prison population. Beginning with the report to be submitted and the presentation to be made not later than February 15, 2008, the division shall include an assessment of the status of the development and implementation of the reentry strategy under section 18-81w.

Developed an inter-agency video hearings system to conduct offender hearings via video technology: The technology will generate savings and operational efficiencies by reducing need for personnel to supervise and transport offenders between prison and court. The system is installed in DOC prisons, parole district offices, courts, probation offices and Whiting Forensic facility. More than 10,000 hearings (approx. 500 per month) have taken place in DOC facilities via video technology.

{ } Developed an Automated Case Notes Information System: BOPP and DOC upgraded their existing information technology system to improve management of offender information. Upgraded system will automate manual tasks and convert parole files to an electronic format.

{ } Developed a Case Management System for the Division of Criminal Justice for all 50 of its locations: The new system will modernize the overall IT infrastructure to support quicker and more efficient access to case data and enable sharing of information across agencies.

{ } Established a Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner (SAFE) program within the Judicial Branch Office of Victim Services. The SAFE project provides centrally coordinated staff for 24/7 “on call” forensic exams at six participating hospitals. Evidence is collected according to a uniform procedure leading to better investigations and successful prosecutions. During the past 12 months, the SAFE project has addressed 112 cases and certified 14 “on-call” forensic examiners.

Juvenile Justice

The purpose of the “Facts and Figures on Connecticut’s Juvenile Justice System” is to provide an overview of the juveniles moving through the juvenile justice system. Data are provided on: arrest, juvenile court referral, use of detention centers, juvenile court disposition and residential placements. See www.ct.gov/opm/JJdataHandout for Juvenile Justice Data

The high level goals are 1) to make better information more accessible, 2) to improve efficiencies and integrity of the data, and 3) to continue to support data driven policy making.

There have been many accomplishments this year in making better information more accessible:

The automation of the first "Data Dashboard" with daily counts for “Connecticut’s Correctional Facility Population” – this was a collaborative project with the assistance of the Dept of Correction, CJIS and BEST. These daily counts and charts can be found linked directly from the CJPPD website at www.ct.gov/opm/cjppd or http://www.ct.gov/opm/cwp/view.asp?a=2967&q=487584

{ } Another Data Dashboard project currently under development and in the testing phase with partners from the Judicial Branch to show the daily counts for "Total New Cases" in all courts for felony and misdemeanors processed by Judicial. It should be available within the next few months.

{ } CJPAC Re-entry Website Development Project - A project team with partners from United Way of CT, CCSU, the CT Reentry Roundtable Collaborative (CRRC) was charged with investigating the ability to make information more accessible for services specific to Ex-Offenders and to look for ways to ensure that consumers are aware of and can access all needed programs and opportunities in our communities. Some services specific to Ex-Offenders are already available at www.211CT.org

{ } There have been improvements this year to the "Arrest Warrant Data and Information" - These counts are prepared pursuant to Public Act 06-99 which requires the Office of Policy and Management to provide the respective counts to each municipal chief elected official and a copy is provided to the law enforcement agency with responsibility for municipality indicated on the report. See http://www.ct.gov/opm/cjis/rearrdata

The projects listed above you can see, but we continue to work with our Criminal Justice partners on the data and records being collected and how the underlying systems and business processes capture some of our most critical information needs.

{ } There have been many accomplishments this year to improve efficiencies and integrity of the data through several grant programs that are supported 90% to 100% by the US Department of Justice – see http://www.ct.gov/opm/cwp/view.asp?a=2969&q=486942

{ } These are nationally competitive grants that are specific to targeted projects to improve data and records reported to the federal government. CT has done very well in pursuing these funds with successful awards increasing each year. This year our office was successfully awarded a substantial $3.25 million increase in these funds, bringing our total annual funds for data and record improvement up to nearly $4 million. This is not discretionary funding. These are targeted competitive funds awarded annually to specific projects that are chosen and selected by the federal government to improve the data and records that our State reports to them. We will have more to share with you on our projects, assessments and findings by late September of this year.